The youngest helper at the Copeland election count was in it for the long-run.

Sam Pratt, 13, from Millom, was helping out with his dad, Andy Pratt, a Conservative Party member and Copeland councillor for Gosforth and Seascale.

The father-son duo showed their support for Copeland’s Conservative candidate Trudy Harrison, and were even given a special mention in her victory speech.

Sam, who attends Millom School, first helped out with the local elections in May, when he was given special permission to attend from his school.

But this time, he was going to school the next day as normal, despite staying at the election count “until the bitter end”.

Sam said: “I’m in charge of looking for new boxes and watching for key boxes.”

Mr Pratt said his son had also joined him on the Copeland Conservative election campaign trail, handing out leaflets every weekend.

As the first boxes arrived from the nearby Whitehaven polling stations, Mr Pratt said he was pleased to see the support for his party.

“We are surprised at how many Conservative voters there are in these Whitehaven boxes,” he said.